Lubbock needs to determine how to get the necessary electricity to power Lubbock in a cost-effective manner.

A huge chunk of Lubbock Power & Light’s agreement to get wholesale power from Xcel Energy ends in 2019, and the city needs to determine how to get the necessary electricity to power Lubbock in a cost-effective manner.

Lubbock’s contract with Xcel for cheap wholesale power will not be renewed.

Officials had organized West Texas Municipal Power Agency, a group of four cities, in a public-private partnership in 2008 to pursue energy on behalf of the South Plains cities. The cities of Lubbock, Tulia, Brownfield and Floydada are members of the power agency.

In 2008, the power agency created High Plains Diversified Energy Corp. to find alternative energy sources. Republic Power formed a partnership with High Plains, and in August 2008 was asked to raise private money to finance studies on various energy projects.

Nearly three years later, a judge ruled Texas law did not grant the power agency the authority to create the corporation, which sought low-interest debt for alternative energy production, meaning the project did not legally exist, and the corporation did not have the power to condemn land and issue public debt.

Now, Republic is demanding about $9 million it said it lost as a result of the breakdown in the three-year plan.

Despite that, a variety of plans are being explored, including continuing to purchase Xcel power, building a plant or purchasing energy from somewhere else.

The Avalanche-Journal asked mayoral candidates and Districts 4 and 6 council candidates about the best way to solve the issue.

The city election is May 12.

Mayor

Both incumbent Tom Martin and challenger Glen Robertson laid out a few plans the city could be looking at in the next couple of years, with both picking out an ideal situation.

With new transmission lines being built north of Lubbock, which should be finished in about 2014, Martin said the ideal situation would be to find a new wholesale provider instead of the city building its own generator.

“There’s a lot of moving parts in this, but it’s safe to say building all your own generation is a much more expensive option than buying all of your wholesale power, assuming its available on the grid,” Martin said.

Martin said he would like to see a definite plan decided by 2014 or 2015, which is when a new grid should be online.

Robertson said the next 12 to 18 months of planning are key, and he wants a decision made during that time on the best option.

Ideally, Robertson would want a third-party company to build a generator close to Lubbock to supply the city’s needs and those of other cities in the West Texas Municipal Power Agency.

He said the plant can then outsource excess energy to other cities to make its profit.

The WTMPA board member said he believes bids will come in at an ideal cost for all the cities, which opens several doors when deciding the best decision.

“We really need to think what’s going to happen,” Robertson said. “The next 6½ years are going to go by quick. We need our solution; we can’t wait until 2017 to make a solution.”

Robertson also sits on LP&L’s board, as does Martin as an ex-officio member.

District 4

Incumbent Paul Beane said a variety of fixes have come to the council’s attention, although he was not at liberty to divulge the details, but is confident the problem will get fixed.

He also wants people to understand their lights are not going to turn off come June 2019.

Beane said the least desirable solution is expanding LP&L’s generation capacity by building another natural gas-fired plant.

Beane said getting Cooke Generation Station, which he still calls the Holly Avenue Plant, back online is something he wants the Electric Utility Board to take a long look at when determining the solution.

He said a combination of fixes should provide the ultimate answer, also suggesting the city should look toward the Midwest to purchase power.

“There are going to be a lot of options available to us by 2014 or 2015,” he said.

Challenger Dwight Fullingim said purchasing or developing power is a tricky situation, requiring professional expertise.

He said he would rather wait to see reports of each of the possible plans before lending his support to a particular path.

“I would want to hear the recommendations, and I am very much more process oriented,” Fullingim said. “I don’t want to be the one that says ‘let’s go this way’ and then come with a list of people that I’ve made contact with or have a relationship with or drag them into that.”

Challenger Jim Gerlt, said the power issue is pressing, and he hopes the city will develop a new plan soon.

He’d like to see some exploration into wind energy, although he acknowledged it can be more unreliable sometimes and added he needs to do more research to find the best situation for Lubbock.

“We’ve got to be very aggressive in looking for other suppliers,” he said.

District 6

Latrelle Joy said the city can’t wait on the power issue.

“Nobody knows in 2019 how many citizens there will be in Lubbock,” she said. “We don’t know how much need there is going to be for additional power.”

She doesn’t yet have a single solution picked out to pursue, she said.

All of the options, including trying to buy wholesale from Xcel, need to be examined, but in a way to limit rate increases, she said.

“I’m going to keep an open mind, review the information,” she said. “I’m not on the council now, so I’m not privy to all of the information that some of the current council members and mayor are privy to. But when the issue is discussed, I will look at all the information and I will keep an open mind, keeping in mind the best interests of our citizens.”

Randy Sanders said he plans to make finding a new power source one of his top priorities, if elected.

“I believe deregulation may be on the horizon in the next several years, and I’d be willing to look at any plan that’s brought forward that would benefit the citizens of Lubbock and LP&L,” Sanders said.

He said he has not heard of very many plans to fix the problem, but he wants to find a solution right away. Whatever plan is chosen, Sanders wants to make sure it takes the city deep into the future.

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Building generation is the only way that the future needs will be met at a guaranteed cost. Every year that goes by the load is growing and the generation has to grow with it. LP&L already has power production dept. with power plants, operators and maintenance personel. It only makes sence to expand on this. The generation is needed for Lubbock and all over the region. One average size combined cycle plant would take care of the needs of Lubbock and the other member cities. If a two on one combined cycle plant was built it could produce around 500 MW. At todays natural gas prices around $2.00 per mmbtu power could be produced at around $15.00 per MW and the extra power could be sold out instead of worrying about buying it at the mercy of the wholesale market. Why not supply the needs of Lubbock and make more money while we are at it. We already have the infrastructure in place. The wholesale market is changing and the days of buying long term wholesale power are going away. It is going to be sold on a day ahead and real time basis due to the fluxuating price of fuel. If you have enough generation to cover your load then you can at least get it for cost all of the time. Wholesale power is always going to be more expensive than cost. This will also help keep your elecric bill lower.

Why not begin offering incentives to companies with large buildings/roof space (ie the Walmarts, Targets, Uniteds, warehouses, etc) plus homeowners to install solar panels? Imagine if each new home built in Lubbock received its power from renewable energy, a source that is in abundance in West Texas, then many of the homes built would not put any additional strain on the existing power supply. Major shopping centers in existence, plus new ones, would then reduce the amount of energy they would need from the existing structure. It is hard to believe that with all the windmills swirling in and around Lubbock that much of that energy is transferred to the metro areas when West Texas could almost be completely self sufficient.

The idea of having solar panels and wind turbines is ok when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining but the wind dosen't always blow and the solar technology just isn't there to produce enough power to even put a dent in our needs. For all the wind generation being built there needs to be reliable quick starting generation to be able to start to replace the wind when it goes away. The truth about the wind is we get most of that generation at night and during lower loads. During the heat of the summer when the system is stressed there is normally very little wind generation. We have to build reliable generation to meet our needs wind and solar are not the answer. Lubbock is not the only ones in need of power. The other power companies out ther that could sell the power to Lubbock need to build generation also to meet their needs and the needs of whoever buys power from them. If they build generation and sell Lubbock the power they will up the price of the power to pay for the plant. Lubbock rate payers will pay for another compaies plant. Why not pay for our own plant that can make money and secure power for Lubbock?